Cover for Superman #19

Out in April 2013. Someone has turned Wonder Woman against Superman.

Superman #15 Review

Superman is locked out of his own fortress. Kicked out by H'el. Together with Superboy he goes to meet with earth's greatest intellect: Lex Luthor.

Lex is being held in a military prison as the sole occupant. He's spending his days thinking about ways to break into the Fortress of Solitude, access its secrets and destroy its owner. Lex is quite upbeat and not at all bothered about his incarceration because it simply suits him right now.
The armed personnel are not happy to see Superman but have no choice to let him in.

Superboy is quite impressed. We learn also that the security features built into the prison was designed by Lex himself.

This issue showcases a really nice dynamic between Superman and Superboy. It's like a bit of banter between a younger and older sibling, the younger one trying to be snarky while the older one effortlessly, humorously and matter of factly puts him in his place, even while understanding much of the attitude is a front with the inexperienced boy. Superboy is out of his depth and he knows it. Clark reassures him.

Superman comes face to face with Lex and the shackles seem something that Clark would insist on to play to Lex's vanity as well. The last we saw Lex in Action comics he was a scientist for the military. It seems a lot has happened between then and now.

Lex toys with Superboy a little as well before he tells Superman that H'el's could very possibly go back in time and stop the destruction of Krypton. But it would be at a price to the Earth. And the reason why H'el choose the Fortress was to access artifacts kept there. But Lex suspected Superman already knew this and he only came to see him to psyche himself. Lex taunts Superman that the only way to stop H'el is to kill him.

Superman, realizing the gravity of the situation, calls in some friends to help : the Justice League.

This was a really enjoyable issue. Love this dangerous, smug, highly intelligent, scientific minded Lex. Lex even seems to imply that Superman might have come very close to crossing a line. The rage and inferno he talks about is very intriguing. How did he get those scars? What did he do to enrage Superman? And how are the Justice League going to help break into the Fortress?

I give this issue 4 out of 5 stars.

Best Panel: Since I am obviously biased, how can I not appreciate Lobdell took the time to reference Clark and Diana's relationship? It would have been weird not to see Clark mention Diana since in most of the issues we have had intros to all the players via the third person narration. And Diana has changed from ally to girlfriend. The use of Beloved on Diana's part is okay to me. Her vernacular would not be the same as ours seeing she is from a century's old society/ AncientGreek origin. Also it could be a reference to Lara's use of beloved for Jor-El.
The fact that it is mentioned that one person knows the secret means that this is after the Smallville date and their second kiss.

Aquaman #15

Bought my first Aquaman issue. Mainly due to the Throne of Atlantic storyline. This is part 2 to the part 1 in Justice League #15. When we left Justice League #15, Atlantis had flooded cities in retaliation for a missile strike and many people were now dead. We start this issue in Gotham where Arthur is helping Batman rescue civilians. With the help of Mera, more lives are saved.

In Metropolis Wonder Woman and Superman (with Lois who happened to be around to saved by Vulko) wait for the Atlantean called Vulko to come to his senses.

Vulko inadvertently lashes out at Superman and Diana will have none of that.

Batman and Aquaman have a talk about the current situation. Batman shows a sense of maturity that can only come with experience and it's good to see him as the steadier one on this team. Arthur is torn between two worlds, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

At the Watchtower, the heroes meet up and Arthur greets Vulko who tell him his brother, Orm, is responsible but it was an accident. An act of self preservation.

Arthur wants some time to talk Orm down. Superman and Wonder Woman believes he needs to be brought in to answer for his crime. While I get Arthur's dilemma, Clark and Diana have only just come back from seeing possibly hundreds of innocents drown. I understand their anger and that Arthur is wanting leeway only because it was his brother. Bossy Batman gives him the chance.

Arthur tries to reason with Orm. Orm is not in a mood to comply.

The Trinity appear via boomtube to take steps intervene. From their pov, Arthur seems to be failing.

Cliffhanger!!!

Good stuff!

Justice League #15 Review

The new art team of Reis,Prado and Frank joins Geoff Johns in this issue. It is the start of the crossover story line, The Throne Of Atlantis. From the very start it promises to be a stunning book. Reis' pencils are amazing, and with his colorist and inker,  the art bursts with life and vigor . Having never read Aquaman I can imagine how beautiful that book must have looked. Geoff Johns also seems to have hit his stride here.

It's clear that someone wants a war to break out between the surface world and Atlantis and the story is set up with a missile test being sabotaged and sent to hit Atlantis. The Atlanteans retaliate by sending in tidal waves to Gotham and Metropolis. We have team work between Bruce and Arthur and a nice scene between Vic and his dad.

The best scenes in this issue are with Clark and Diana. Amid action and drama, we get some wonderfully humanizing scenes, which I feel was needed for both. Diana, in her own book, has been very in control and protective of others and there have been few instances of vulnerability and expressing personal wants and desires. She is only twenty three and should be allowed to enjoy her youth. Superman himself has been stoic in Justice League and maybe Geoff did that on purpose. We finally see Clark opening up and showing us who he is. They have their first date in civvies and Clark has to persuade a reluctant Diana to try the glasses. It's a bit funny too since the Diana Prince alter ego has been such a huge part of Wonder Woman's history.

To me makes sense that the guy who has lived intimately with a secret id, understands the need to sometimes take time out. Diana's life as Wonder Woman and even in her own book has not been full of much joy recently, has it? Having been hounded by the press when with Steve, it comes as a surprise to Diana they can just be together, share a nice meal and not have people gaping and gossiping. Her giggle and joy at it is one of my favorite panels.

Unfortunately their date is interrupted by one of those waves and we get to see some great sequences of them working together to stop an air craft carrier borne in by a huge tsunami.

We get the lasso transformation too! And the manadatory almost predictable Lois and Jimmy scene. While the pair of heroes try to save people and stop the ship from doing damage, Lois is on the street with Jimmy trying to get pictures etc. (Why is she even there? Isn't she the head of her divison now?)

She's there to seeing them work together, show a little jealousy, get swept away and need saving. Of course lucky Lois gets saved while thousands of others drown. Not by Superman but by an Atlantean called Vulko who is looking for Arthur to warn him of his brother.

Great issue. 4.5 out of 5.

Wonder Woman #15 Review

Orion makes his appearance on earth. He comes across another sibling of Diana, Milan, who appears to look like a mentally ill, homeless man.

They know each other, so it suggests Orion has visited him before. It's a little odd to see Orion, the son of Darkseid, Dog of War, looking like a twenty three year old, pretty boy, male model. I guess Mother Box is up on earth trends. Orion has come looking for someone and wants Milan's help.

Wonder Woman is in Manhattan in a fancy hotel with her crew. Where does she get the money? It's spent chatting with Lennox about the other brother and going to look for him. She also continues playing referee to Zola and Hera. I don't know why she feels she has to apologize to them for losing her temper either. Both of them behave like brats.

They end up in some old tunnels underground and Hephaestus appears and fiddles with Diana's bracelets. He's expecting something clearly. We find out he made the bracers too and nice to actually see some emotion from Diana regarding her mother. Diana has been very stiff upper lip and not shown much emotion so far regarding her loss. Anyway, Lennox finds Milan. Milan senses trouble is about to brew and tries to chase Lennox away. Hera and Zola back at the hotel seem to bond a tiny bit over that philandering Zeus. After seeing what Hera did in the past, (as with Sirraca and her mother) color me not that sympathetic to her at all.

Orion and Lennox confront each other. Orion demands to know where the last of Zeus' line is. Diana steps in to defend her brother. Orion comes at her while double swords pop from her braces.Milan is not happy.

The last two issues has kind of slowed this story down. Again with meetings and greetings. Another sibling and Orion. Instead of the London flat, we have a hotel in New York for some chatter. Diana getting some new swords. A tease to a fight. Why doesn't she just take off the cuffs? Will she remember she flies and has a lasso as well? Is this new weaponry a permanent thing or just tinkering? Can she pull out any weapon? What will these swords be capable of? Orion does not think much of them.

I give this another 3.5 out of 5.

Best Panel: Cliff does draw a great face for Diana. I am not that enamored of the body he gives her at times. It comes off a bit square and broad shoudered and flat chested. But her features and expressions are always lovely.

Supergirl #15

As with Superboy, I am only picking up Supergirl because of the H'el on Earth crossover. As we know, H'el had fooled Kara in beliving Kal had betrayed her. We start off this issue with a flash back. Kara recalling her life on Krypton.

This whole issue is about showing how lonely Kara is and how hard it must be for a teenager to lose the life she knew and her family and friends.

We know Kara is angry but she is also very vulnerable because she is grieving still. H'el is offering something she has not gotten from her cousin : sympathy and a chance to go home. He teleports her to the Fortress of Solitude. As we know from Superboy #15, Kal and Superboy had gotten kicked out of it.

Superman realizes they needs help to get back in. Meanwhile, H'el teleports Kara into the bottled city of Kandor and projects himself astrally. He projects an image of his former self before he changed.

He manages to get Kara feel a closeness and connection to him and what he is hoping to achieve. While H'el is manipulating Kara, we still don't know much of what happened to him and it feels as if he had suffered too. With her help he manges to get her to do take the Quantum Crystal that powers Kandor.

 Now that they have it, the plan is to go back to Krypton and prevent its destruction.